TY - JOUR
T1 - Comparing the Validity of Self-Report and Urinalysis for Substance Use among Former Inmates in the Northeastern United States
T2 - Substance Use Reporting Accuracy Among Inmates
AU - van den Berg, Jacob J.
AU - Adeyemo, Samuel
AU - Roberts, Mary B.
AU - Bock, Beth C.
AU - Stein, L. A.R.
AU - Martin, Rosemarie A.
AU - Parker, Donna R.
AU - Clarke, Jennifer G.
N1 - Funding Information:
This study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 DA024093). The authors would like to thank all of the former inmates who participated in this study and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections for their participation in this study. This study was funded by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (R01 DA024093) to Dr. Clarke.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018, © 2018 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.
PY - 2018/8/24
Y1 - 2018/8/24
N2 - Background: Problems with self-reported drug use include difficulties with recall and recognition as well as the desire to respond to questions in a socially desirable manner. Various methods have been developed to improve and/or validate estimates based on direct questioning of individuals regarding their substance use. For this study, we were interested in validating self-reported use of: 1) tobacco, 2) marijuana, and 3) other substances (i.e., heroin, cocaine, opiates, oxycodone, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, phencyclidine, and barbiturates) employing urinalysis among inmates who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a smoking abstinence intervention in a tobacco-free prison located in the northeastern United States. Methods: Two-hundred and seven men and women with a mean age of 34.9 (standard deviation = 9.0) completed questions regarding their substance use on a 7-day Timeline Follow-Back and provided urine specimens three weeks following prison release. Results: Self-reported tobacco and marijuana use were highly consistent with urine drug testing in terms of overall agreement and Kappa (93.7% and.804 for tobacco, respectively; and 90.3% and.804 for marijuana, respectively); however, consistency was much lower for other drug use grouped together (62.7% and.270). Discussion: Although some former inmates may not accurately report substance use, our findings indicate that they are in the minority, suggesting that self-report is valid for tobacco and marijuana use but much less so for other drugs grouped together. Future research should be conducted with a larger and more diverse sample of former inmates to establish the generalizability of our findings from this study.
AB - Background: Problems with self-reported drug use include difficulties with recall and recognition as well as the desire to respond to questions in a socially desirable manner. Various methods have been developed to improve and/or validate estimates based on direct questioning of individuals regarding their substance use. For this study, we were interested in validating self-reported use of: 1) tobacco, 2) marijuana, and 3) other substances (i.e., heroin, cocaine, opiates, oxycodone, benzodiazepines, methamphetamine, phencyclidine, and barbiturates) employing urinalysis among inmates who participated in a randomized controlled trial of a smoking abstinence intervention in a tobacco-free prison located in the northeastern United States. Methods: Two-hundred and seven men and women with a mean age of 34.9 (standard deviation = 9.0) completed questions regarding their substance use on a 7-day Timeline Follow-Back and provided urine specimens three weeks following prison release. Results: Self-reported tobacco and marijuana use were highly consistent with urine drug testing in terms of overall agreement and Kappa (93.7% and.804 for tobacco, respectively; and 90.3% and.804 for marijuana, respectively); however, consistency was much lower for other drug use grouped together (62.7% and.270). Discussion: Although some former inmates may not accurately report substance use, our findings indicate that they are in the minority, suggesting that self-report is valid for tobacco and marijuana use but much less so for other drugs grouped together. Future research should be conducted with a larger and more diverse sample of former inmates to establish the generalizability of our findings from this study.
KW - Substance use
KW - accuracy
KW - former inmates
KW - self-report
KW - timeline follow-back
KW - urinalysis
KW - validity
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U2 - 10.1080/10826084.2018.1432646
DO - 10.1080/10826084.2018.1432646
M3 - Article
C2 - 29419341
AN - SCOPUS:85041534257
SN - 1082-6084
VL - 53
SP - 1756
EP - 1761
JO - Substance Use and Misuse
JF - Substance Use and Misuse
IS - 10
ER -